to find me. Even if he does, Leadville is in the complete opposite direction of where he’ll be headed. He won’t waste that much time in search of me.”
Owen looked at her like she was an idiot. “You don’t think he can read a newspaper? Even I’ve seen the ads for your boardinghouse. It’s noble of you, making sure women know that they have a place to go when they’re in danger from their husbands. But this house, it isn’t safe. Any determined man can get in and hurt the people inside.”
He looked around the room as if to take in the surroundings and judge them. She tried to see it through his eyes. The pretty glass vase full of flowers could easily be used as a weapon. The windows, while locked shut, could be broken and someone could come in. As much as Laura hated to admit it, Owen was right. Not just about James, but about the fact that all this time she’d given herself a false sense of security.
“So what now?” Laura sighed as she sat in her favorite chair. How had she gone from feeling strong to being so helpless in so short a time?
“You’ll come with me. I’ll take you somewhere safe, where James can’t find you. You’ll stay there until the authorities capture him and put him back in prison.”
“How long will that take?” Just because she felt helpless didn’t mean she had to act that way. Or let Owen make decisions without giving her all the information.
“I don’t know. My hope is that they get him before he ever arrives in Leadville. But so far, all we have is dead bodies to let us know where he’s been, and where we think he’s going.”
Which sounded an awful lot like Owen was trying to get her to act on her fear of James when Laura had moved beyond that phase of her life. She wasn’t going to live in fear of what James might do.
“So he’s not here yet?”
“Not yet. But he’s coming.”
Laura took a deep breath. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe. You’ll know when we get there.”
More lack of information and the expectation that Laura was the helpless woman she’d once been. However, these days, she had more to worry about than just her own comfort. “But what about my boardinghouse? The women who stay here need me.”
Owen looked around the room again. “Doesn’t look like you have any boarders right now.”
“Not right now, but I’m expecting some soon.”
“They’ve made reservations?”
Laura hated the way he pried into her business like he knew it. But as she looked into those deep blue, knowing eyes, she saw that it was futile to argue. He was the law. He probably already had all that information.
“All right, I’m not expecting anyone in particular. But you know how these things work. My house is empty one day, and the next day it is full of people needing a place to stay. I can’t just leave. What if someone needs me?”
She stood and crossed her arms, glaring at him. He had to see that she’d changed. That she could take care of herself if need be.
“You can’t help someone if you’re dead.”
A good point and Owen’s satisfied expression told her that he knew it. He always knew these things, and it seemed useless to argue. Except...she couldn’t just leave.
Somehow running away felt a lot like giving up the hard-won strength she’d developed since being on her own.
“Can’t you stay here with me until we know he’s been apprehended?”
Owen shook his head. “That’s not possible. I have obligations that require me to be elsewhere.”
His answer made something in Laura snap. It wasn’t right that everyone else expected Laura to do the bending. Meek, biddable Laura. A woman who no longer existed.
And if Owen thought she was still that woman, well, maybe she wasn’t the only one misjudging someone else.
“So this is actually about you and your obligations, not about keeping me safe.”
Owen let out a long sigh like he’d finally gotten irritated with all of Laura’s questions. Back when he’d protected her before, she’d easily acquiesced to everything he wanted. She’d easily acquiesced to everything in her life. She’d been the most agreeable person anyone knew. However, over the past several months, Laura had learned that she had an opinion on a lot of things. She didn’t quickly agree to every suggestion people gave her. She didn’t let people tell her what to do. Instead, she took the time to think about what she wanted. When she finally got out from under James’s thumb and had been able to create a life for herself, Laura had decided that she wasn’t going to ever again do anything she didn’t want to do.
If Owen thought she was going to simply do what he wanted, well, that was too bad.
“I’m sorry to inconvenience you, but I believe I’ll stay here.”
“This isn’t a negotiation,” Owen said. “The only option you have is to come with me.”
Riding on a horse with Owen, leaving her boardinghouse, made Laura feel more like a coward than she ever had. She’d finally learned to stand up to James, and here she was, running from him. Worse, she hadn’t even felt like she’d had a choice but to go with Owen. How had she become so helpless again?
“You could have at least let me say goodbye to my friends,” she said, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice. “And what about my boardinghouse?”
Owen had only given her enough time to pack a bag. Even then, he’d stood above her, telling her what she could and couldn’t bring. While the rational part of her reminded herself that he was a lawman who knew what he was doing, the woman who had made so many strides in becoming independent resented his interference.
Funny how just hours ago, she’d been entertaining the foolish thought that he might have had some personal interest in her. Maybe she wasn’t a good judge of character, but she at least knew the signs of a bully. She’d been married to the worst of them, so for Owen to be so forceful with her, perhaps it was just as well that he’d never given her any indication that their relationship was anything more than professional. She wouldn’t risk getting her heart involved with a man who showed such obvious signs of needing to have power and be in control. At least that was one area where Laura could remain strong.
“I told you, Will has arranged for some of the ladies at church to help out with the boardinghouse.”
“How would he have had time to do that already? James only escaped this morning.”
“We agreed when he sent me to get you, that he would talk to his wife, Mary, and she would rally the ladies. I have no reason to doubt his word.”
Owen made a sound with his mouth that Laura had never heard before. But his horse seemed to understand what it meant because it sped up.
Laura clung
